I hope you are generating referrals from your clients. If you’re not you should be as referrals are one of the most effective, if not the most effective, way of growing your business. But know that once you have gotten the referral your job is hardly done. No, I’m not talking about contacting and selling the referred prospect, I’m talking about keeping your client in the loop.

One of the primary reasons clients are hesitant to give referrals is that they are afraid of being embarrassed in front of a friend, relative, acquaintance or co-worker by you not performing as you should. So, when they do give a referral, they have a vested interest in what’s going on between you and the person to whom they referred you. Their interest isn’t in whether or not the prospect purchases but in how the prospect perceives you and the value being referred by the client.

When a client gives you a referral, you learn a number of things:

The client will give referrals. Obviously, you just received one or more.

How well the client understands what you do. The quality of the referral will let you know how well your client understands what you do and who is a good referral for you. The better the referral, the more the client understands. The poorer the referral, the more work you must do to educate them for future referrals (and future sales to them for that matter).

How much they trust you. Generally, the stronger the trust relationship between the client and the referred prospect, the more the client trusts you.

They have more referrals to give. Seldom will a client give you all of the referrals they can make at one time. If a client gives referrals, you can almost bet they have more to give—if you keep earning them.

How do you get those additional referrals? Additional referrals are earned, just as the original referrals were earned. You earn those additional referrals by:

Giving your client the assurance that you’re trustworthy with referrals. You must show through your actions that their trust in giving you a referral was well placed by making sure that the referred prospect has an exceptional experience with you.

By keeping your client fully informed of everything that is occurring with the referred prospect.

By continuing to deliver superior service to your client.

Does the above mean that you must perform perfectly with the referred prospect? What if there was an honest mistake or miscommunication? What if something out of your control happened during the course of the sale? Will these incidents destroy any possibility of acquiring additional referrals?

No, not at all.

The keys to gaining additional referrals from a client are to treat the referred prospect exactly in the same manner you treated the client and to keep your client informed of what is transpiring between yourself and the referred prospect.

Your client gave you referrals because they understood that giving referrals was in their own best interests and because you earned them through the service you gave them. You must now demonstrate that same level of service for the referral they have given you. They expect—actually demand—you perform at the same level—or higher—for those they refer to as you did for them. That level of service you gave them was what demonstrated to them that they could trust with a referral. Anything short of that and they will reevaluate whether you should be trusted with additional referrals.

That having been said, most clients understand that mistakes, miscommunications, and problems arise in business. A single issue during the course of the sale to a referred prospect, even a major issue, will not sever your ability to gain additional referrals from you client if you address and resolve the issue in an exceptional manner.

Clients don’t expect perfection, they expect exceptional service—both for themselves and for those they refer you to. How well or poorly you handle the issues will be a major factor in determining your future refer-ability.

Keeping your client informed of the progress of the sale with the referred prospect reassures them that you’re doing your job—and that all is well. It is also your source of informing them if there have been problems and how they were resolved.

It is critical that you let your client know of issues involved with sales to prospects they have referred you to before the prospect has a chance to relate the incident. You can relate the circumstances and the resolution in the most favorable light—the prospect may not. This doesn’t mean that you can lie or gloss over it, just that you can give the background and the full resolution without the emotional involvement the prospect will have. Of course, if you’ve done an exceptional job of resolving the issue, the tale told by the prospect should also be impressive. However, you always want problems to be related to your client by you—you don’t want to get a phone call from the client asking what happened.

Keeping your client informed doesn’t mean bombarding them with emails, phone calls, and notes. A simple “thank you for the referral” card immediately after receiving the referral and the occasional call or email will suffice. The object is to keep them in the loop and to reassure them that their referral was well made for both you and the prospect. Even better than the occasional call or email is to explicitly ask the client how and how often they would like to be informed of the progress.

Clients are interested in what’s going on with the referrals they make. They want to know the prospect is being taken care of in the manner the client expected, and they enjoy knowing that they have provided you with a quality referral. More importantly, they want to know that they haven’t embarrassed themselves in front of an acquaintance.

Simple actions will earn those additional referrals your clients have—you just have to earn them.

OK, I know, you’ve been told your entire life as a salesperson that you have to ask for referrals and that if you don’t you’ll fail. But if you’re like most sellers you’ve asked and on occasion get a name and phone number of someone that turns into a new client, but most of the time the names and numbers you get are about as targeted as taking a dart and throwing blindly at the phone book.

The above situation is so common that a great many sellers simply stop asking, thinking that referrals are nothing more than sales mythology, while others, thinking they are the cause of the failure to generate significant numbers of quality referrals, continue to ask with little success and a growing sense of frustration and failure.

The reality isn’t that generating quality referrals are nothing more than a myth or that the seller himself is the root cause of referral generation failure.

Referral generation fails primarily because of the way most sellers have been taught to seek referrals. The seller isn’t the problem; the strategy they’ve been taught is at fault.

How have most of us been taught to get referrals?

For the most part out referral training consists of nothing more than “do a good job for your client and ask for referrals with a question such as, ‘Mr. Prospect, do you know anyone else who I might be able to help as I’ve helped you,’ or ‘Ms. Prospect, do you know of anyone who might benefit from my products or services?’

Certainly on occasion the training may be a bit more in-depth—one trainer might encourage sellers to ask the question early in the sale while another stresses the need to ask only after the sale has been completed, or one trainer might use slightly different phraseology or might encourage the seller to ask for a specific number of referrals, but the essence of the training is the same—do a good job and ask for referrals.

The problem is the process taught causes more problems than it solves.

First, the good news—the traditional referral training solves a major problem—it encourages the seller to seek referrals. Although the success ratio is typically very low, it does produce the occasional prospect that turns into a client.

Now the bad news—it fritters away one of the most valuable business generation resources a seller has—the potential quality referrals from a satisfied client.

Let’s take a look at the primary problems the traditional referral “method” creates:

The Referral Question Comes Out of the Blue: Most clients are not comfortable when put on the spot to give referrals. When we ask for a referral we may be thinking that we’re asking a small favor but most clients take the request far more seriously. When a client gives a referral they believe they are putting their reputation on the line, something most don’t do lightly. Clients need time to become comfortable with the idea of giving referrals. If we really want quality referrals, we have to allow our client the time to become comfortable with the idea of giving us referrals before we ask.

We Don’t Give Our Client the Opportunity to Give Quality Referrals: When we follow the traditional training of “do a good job and ask for referrals” we literally stand in front of our client (or are holding on the phone) expecting them to pop off the names of great prospects for us. We are asking them to go through their mental file cabinet and come up with great referrals in the course of 10 or 15 seconds. That is simply an unrealistic expectation on our part and we usually get what we deserve when we put a client in that position—little to nothing of value.

Our Client Doesn’t Know Who a Great Prospect for Us Is: Not only do we expect our client to be able to give great referrals just off the top of their head, we expect them to know exactly who we can help when much of the time our client hasn’t had the opportunity to fully appreciate what we’ve done for them, much less know what all of our capabilities are and who is really a top prospect for us. We’re asking our client to do the impossible—know our business as well as we know it.

It Ignores Human Nature: The traditional referral request is one-sided and offers the client no reason to give referrals. There are, obviously, clients who will give referrals even when there is nothing in it for them, but human nature being what it is, the referral request can be far more successful if it can be shown that it benefits the client as well as the seller.

It Makes the Client do the Work: Rather than making it easy for our clients to give us great referrals, we make it as difficult as possible by asking them to do something they are ill prepared–and often not inclined–to do. Giving high quality referrals should be so easy for our client that literally all they have to do is say “yes.”

Although referral generation as traditionally taught is laden with self-defeating issues, referral generation when practiced properly can be a highly successful business generation tool—one that can literally be the cornerstone of a successful business.

At first glance, a referral is a pretty simple thing. For most salespeople, managers, and trainers, a referral is just a name and phone number that a client has given the salesperson once the salesperson has completed the sale and has done a good job for the client.

Once a salesperson has received a referral, contacting the referred party is just as simple. The salesperson either will call the referred party mentioning to him or her that the client, which they know, referred the salesperson to them, or will ask the client to write a referral letter to the prospect and then the salesperson will call the prospect after they have received the letter. A very simple, straightforward process.

Unfortunately, this process is totally and completely wrong, and has been proven by millions of salespeople to not work worth a darn.Nevertheless, this is what is taught in almost every sales course in the world. And not only is it a waste of time and effort, it deceives the salespeople who don’t succeed with it into believing that the fault lies with them, not with a “system” that doesn’t work.

Generating a large number of high quality referrals requires far more than “doing a good job and asking for referrals.” It requires a systematic process of planting referral seeds, watering them at every chance, weeding out problems and issues, and then reaping the rewards.

If you want to generate a large number of high quality referrals from your clients, you must understand what a referral is based on.

A Referral is Based on a Foundation with Four Pillars-and you can control 3 of them:

The relationship between you and your client: you can control this pillar of the foundation. By instituting the full client relationship building process in detailed in Creating a Million Dollar a Year Sales Income: Sales Success through Client Referrals (John Wiley and Sons, 2007), you can create a strong relationship with your client built on mutual trust. Clients don’t give referrals because they like you or even because you did a good job. Clients hate to give referrals and unless they have a deep trust that you will not embarrass them and that you’ll deal honestly with the prospect they refer, they won’t be willing to give quality referrals.

Your client’s purchasing experience: you can control this pillar of the foundation. You must discover exactly what your client’s expectations and priorities are, then meet-, and hopefully exceed them. You cannot afford to guess or “think” you know what these are-you must know exactly and you can only do that by discussing them with your client and then making sure you meet them or exceed them-nothing less will do.

The relationship between your client and the prospect: you have no control over this pillar. Clients will refer you to people they have very strong, positive relationships with and people they have very negative relationships with. If the prospect trusts and respects our client, some that trust and respect will be automatically imbued to you. On the other hand, if the prospect distrusts or doesn’t respect your client, some of that distrust or disrespect will also be imbued to you. Your job is to find out exactly what the relationship between client and prospect is and then plan you approach accordingly.

Your initial contact with the prospect: you control this pillar also. If you have built your relationship with the client properly, your client will be happy to contact the prospect in whatever method you desire. As outlined in Creating a Million Dollar a Year Sales Income, there are a number of methods of contacting clients, each with their own pros and cons, depending on the strength or weakness of the client/prospect relationship.

As seen above, you have control of the majority of the pillars upon which a referral is based. If any of the above is weak, your likelihood of generating quality referrals will decline and the weakness must be made up elsewhere. In actuality, if one of the first two segments is weak, you will not be getting quality referrals-period. However, you can mitigate the affects of the last two.

If the relationship between client and prospect is weak, use a stronger contact method. Moreover, if the contact method is weak, convert the method into a stronger one. For example, if your contact method is a phone call to a prospect who has a weak relationship with your client, try to bring in one or two other clients the prospect may know by reputation to build additional credibility. Better yet, try to arrange a conference call between the prospect and your client.

Generating a large number of quality sales isn’t done by chance or luck, and neither is generating a large number of high quality referrals.Just as you need a well thought out process to consistently sell, you need a well thought out process to generate quality referrals. You can significantly increase the volume and the success of your referrals if you understand the dynamics that generate quality referrals and then control those dynamics.

Instead we get the occasional name and phone number that we call a “referral” to someone who either has no need or want for our product or service, or couldn’t afford it even if they did want it.

What seems to be the problem with us sellers that prevents us from getting more than just a mere handful of quality referrals?

The good news is the problem isn’t with us. We’re just fine.

The problem is the way we’ve been taught to get referrals. It doesn’t work very well.

Most sales trainers and managers teach sellers that getting referrals is easy—just “do a good job” and then ask for referrals. All you have to do to get referrals, they teach, is satisfy your client and then ask a question such as, “Ms. Client, who do you know that could benefit from my products or services?”

Simple, huh?

Yep. So simple in fact that it’s just another piece of traditional sales training crap that isn’t worth the 45 seconds it takes to teach it.

The problem is the very concept of asking your client to do your prospecting for you is totally wrong.

Asking is passive. When you ask your client to come up with a referral prospect for you, you’re asking them to do something they aren’t capable of doing. You’re asking them to figure out who would be a good prospect for you—as though they knew your business. As though they knew what constitutes a good prospect for you. Unless they are your competitor, they don’t know. It isn’t their job to know—it’s your job. When you ask your client that silly referral question, you’re taking the future of your sales business out of your hands and putting it in their hands.

Asking is unfair. When you ask your client for a referral you’re putting them on the spot. Would you want someone to put you on the spot where you felt pressured to do something even if you didn’t want to?

Asking is a waste of time. Most of the time when we ask for a referral we are literally standing in front of or are on the phone expecting them to give us an immediate answer. We are giving our client 10 or 15 seconds to go through their mental file cabinet to come up with a great referral for us. And then we’re surprised when they can’t.

So if asking doesn’t work, what does?

Instead of asking for a referral from your client, generate a referral for your client to give you.

Referral generation is proactive. When you generate a referral for your client to give you, you are doing all the work for your client. You’re making it easy for them to give you great referrals. You’re taking the load off them so they don’t have to come up with a referral—all they have to do is utter one simple little word—“yes.”

Referral generation takes work. Where asking is easy, referral generation takes work. Like most things in life, getting high quality referrals takes work. Although asking for referrals is easy, the result is what most easy things in life bring—little to nothing. In order to generate a referral for your client to give you, you have to figure out who your client knows that you know you want to be referred to. That means you have to become a bit of a detective.

Referral generation guarantees you get great referrals. When you generate a referral for your client to give, you insure you get a great referral because it is a referral to someone you know you want to be referred to. How would you like to get one or two or three referrals from every one of your clients, all to prospects that you know are great prospects for you? It would change your business overnight.

The process of referral generation is really pretty simple. You figure out who your client knows that you know you want to be referred to. Then when it comes time to ask for a referral, you ask your client if they know the person you want to be referred to. If you’ve done your homework well, they’ll say they know them. Then you ask for the introduction.

The conversation goes something like this:

You: “John, I’ve been trying to connect with Don Jones at XYZ Corporation for quite some time and just haven’t been able to make the connection. It dawned on me that you just might know Don. Do you know him?” If you’ve done your homework well, you know the answer will be yes—or at least you have good reason to believe it will be yes.

John: “Sure, I’ve known Don for about four years, why?”

You: “Great. Would you be comfortable introducing me to him?” If you’ve done your job well and have a very satisfied client who trusts you, he’ll agree to give the introduction.

John didn’t have to come up with a name. He didn’t have to fret over who to refer or what it was you really wanted. He didn’t have to invest time or effort. All he had to do was say “yes.”

You get an introduction to a great prospect and all your client had to do way say one little word.

Super easy—for your client. And really not very hard for you, either.

But how do you find out who your client knows?

That may seem like the hard part, but with practice, it’s really pretty easy and doesn’t take a great deal of time.

Learning to really listen to your client is one key. In the course of getting to know your client you can pick up a great many ideas about who they know—references to friends, family, and co-workers. References to employers, past employers, organizations and associations, or places of worship or recreation they belong to. All of these are fruitful areas to figure out who your client knows or likely knows. Small talk can become one of the most informative areas of helping you generate referrals.

Becoming highly observant is also key. If you meet in your client’s office or home, you can pick up all kinds of clues: what awards or certifications do they have on the wall? Are their pictures with potential prospects? Who are their vendors and suppliers? What association or organization directories are in the bookcase?

Today social media can be a quick way to discover who your client knows that you know you want to be referred to.

Does your client have a LinkedIn, Twitter, or Facebook account?

If they do, search through their connections, followers, and/or friends to find great referral prospects for you. Once you’ve identified a few, try to figure out which ones your client knows best and concentrate on using them as your generated referral.

What groups does your client belong to on LinkedIn and Facebook? These not only tell you what their interests are, but can also help identify prospects that your client knows.

Does your client have a blog? If so spend some time reading it. It is a great way to get to know your client—and who they know. Do they talk about specific people or companies they know or deal with? Are there certain people that comment frequently on their posts?

Do a Google search on your client. You might find other social media sites your client belongs to or possibly comments he or she has made on blogs or various media sites.

Social media is proving to be a tremendous help in a number of business applications. Referral generation is one—and one that you should be taking advantage of.

Don’t waste your time asking for referrals. Learn to make giving you high quality referrals so easy your clients will love saying yes.

From the time we enter the sales industry we’ve heard that referrals are by far the best prospecting and marketing method in existence. Yet, very few of us actually get very many high quality referrals.

Certainly some of us manage to get a name and phone number here and another there. A few of us will manage to get several. However, most of these “referrals” are worthless–just names and phone numbers of people or businesses that have no interest in or need for or can’t afford our product or service.

Nevertheless, there are a few salespeople and business owners who have found a way to not only generate more than just a few referrals, but somehow they manage to generate enough high quality referrals to run very successful sales practices almost exclusively from the referrals they receive from their clients.

Do they have some great secret the rest of us don’t know?

In a sense, they do know something most of us don’t. They’ve learned that what most of us are doing to get referrals—just asking a question such as, “Ms. Client, do you know of anyone else that I might help”–doesn’t work.

Moreover, they have learned ways that do work.

Let’s look at five of the most basic things these mega-referral producers have learned:

1. Ask for referrals: Sounds stupid right? If you don’t ask, how do you expect to get them? Unfortunately, over 50% of salespeople simply never ask—and the majorities who do ‘ask,’ really don’t ask for referrals.

2. Really Ask: Asking means a direct request for referrals. Studies have also shown that the majority of salespeople and business owners who ask for referrals don’t really ask–they suggest. They’ll say something like “Don, if you happen to run across someone who could use my service, would you give them one of my cards?” and then they hand the client a bunch of cards—that usually go straight into the trash.

3. Let the client know who’s a good referral: Very few salespeople ever define for the client exactly who a good referral is. They assume the client knows. Bad assumption. Clients aren’t in your business. Why should they know? You have to let them know exactly who you’re looking for.

4 Better yet, make the referral easy for them: Instead of making your client come up with the referral, do the work for them. During the course of the sale do some detective work and figure out who your client knows that you know you want to be referred to. Then, when it comes time to ask for referrals, make it easy for them. Say something such as, “Ms. Client, I’ve been trying to connect with Joe Blow at XYZ Company for quite some time and just haven’t been able to make the connection. It dawned on me that you might know Joe. Do you know him?”

If I’ve done my homework well, I know—or at least have good reason to believe—the answer will be yes.

If I know my client trusts me and that I’ve done a good job for her, I then suggest the referral: “Great. Would you be comfortable introducing me to him?”

My client doesn’t have to wonder who might make a good referral for me. She doesn’t have to think. She doesn’t have to do anything other than to utter one simple word, “yes.” It’s a lot easier for a client to say “yes” than it is to figure out who would be a good referral. It takes no time. It takes no effort. It’s easy. I get a referral to someone that I know I want to be referred to.

5 Don’t get names and phone numbers, get introduced. A name and phone number is just a nme and phone number, not a referral. Get introduced to the prospect through an introduction letter, phone call, or lunch meeting.

Mega-referral producers have a detailed process they use to generate a large number of high quality referrals from every one of their clients–and even prospects. They have developed a disciplined and effective procedure they use with each client that leads to a predictable end—receiving a large number of high quality referrals.

But even without learning the process they use, if you simply implement these 7 simple tips, you’ll increase both the number and quality of the referrals you receive from your clients immediately.

Over the past few years I’ve worked with thousands of sellers, helping them learn how to radically increase both the quantity and quality of referrals they get from their clients. In the early stages of working with these men and women I usually hear the same comments and frustrations about referrals: from how asking for referrals is a waste of time because seldom do the referred prospects buy, to how asking for referrals makes the seller look weak, to how clients resent being asked for referrals.

There are dozens of reasons sellers have had less than great experience with referrals, and almost all of them are because the way they’ve been taught to seek referrals creates more problems than it solves.

Most sellers have been taught that all you have to do to get referrals is ask for them after the sale has been completed. Just do a good job for your client and then, after the sale, ask them if they know of anyone who could benefit from your products or services. Depending upon the seller you ask, that simple referral question can take many different forms, such as:

“Ms. Client, who do you know that could use my products or services?”

“Mr. Client, who do you know that I should be talking to?”

“Mr. Client, who else do you know that I could help?”

“Ms. Client, if you happen to run across anyone else that I might be able to help, would you give them one of my cards?”

No matter how they phrase the request, seldom will these questions produce quality referrals because they don’t address the basic anxiety that many clients have about giving referrals, and worse, the seller is asking their client to do their prospecting for them, an unrealistic request and one that puts the client in an awkward position.

By waiting until the end of the sale to introduce the idea of referrals, sellers are making it very difficult to acquire quality referrals. Most clients need time to get comfortable with the idea of giving referrals and they certainly need time to think about whom to refer. Furthermore, they need a clear idea of who would make a great referred prospect. And since most clients do things for the same reason most people do things, because they see doing the thing to be in their own best interests to do, the seller needs to give the client a good reason to give referrals.

All of the issues above work to make getting quality referrals difficult. But in the end, the single biggest reason sellers don’t get many high quality referrals from their clients is because the client simply doesn’t know who to refer. We think it is obvious whom to refer—we want them to refer someone just like themselves. It isn’t obvious to them. Although we may think they do, our clients don’t really understand all of the things we can do or all of the needs and issues we can solve. Consequently, they really don’t know who to refer.

So if asking your client for a referral to someone they know who might need your products or services doesn’t work very well, is it possible to get a large number of high quality referrals from clients?

Yes, absolutely it is.

But instead of asking a silly, weak question like “who do you know that might be able to use my products or services,” ask to be referred to a specific person. Although the typical referral question is simple, it is very ineffective.

More difficult and extremely effective is doing a bit of detective work to discover who your client knows that you know you want to be referred to and then asking for a direct introduction to that person.

This method demands more from you than popping off a throwaway question at the end of the sale, but it is powerful because:

You are no longer asking your client to do your prospecting for you, taking an unwanted burden off them because you’re doing the work for them

You are far more likely to get a positive response from your client because instead of asking them to rummage around their mental file cabinet trying to figure out who to refer, you’re asking for a specific and easy to fulfill action—an introduction to someone they know

The introduction you get will be to a quality prospect because it will be to a prospect that you pick and that you know you want to be introduced to

You will have a much greater chance of setting an appointment with the prospect by being personally introduced by your client than if you just get their name and phone number and call them out of the blue

Over time, you can get multiple high quality introductions from each client. They become a never ending source of quality referrals by simply asking for additional specific introductions as you earn them

Top sellers have learned how to build their businesses from referrals, and for most of them, that weak referral question most sellers ask isn’t a part of their referral strategy. They’ve learned that if they make giving referrals easy for their clients, getting referrals becomes easy. Better yet, they’ve learned that if they control the referral process and get referred to the prospects they want to be referred to, their closing ratio from referrals doubles, triples, quadruples, or more.

Referrals can be the cornerstone of your sales business if you learn to do a little detective work and make it easy for your clients to give the great referrals you’ve always wanted.

At first glance, a referral is a pretty simple thing. For most sellers, managers, and trainers, a referral is just a name and phone number that a client has given once the seller has completed the sale, has done a good job for the client, and then asks a general question such as, “do you know of anyone else that I might be able to help?,” or, “do you know of anyone else that might benefit from my products and services?”.

Once a seller has received a referral, contacting the referred party is just as simple. The seller will call the referred party mentioning to him or her that the client, which the prospect knows, referred the seller to them, or on occasion they will ask the client to write a referral letter to the prospect and then the seller will call the prospect after they have received the letter. A very simple, straightforward process.

Unfortunately, this “do a good job and ask for a referral” process is totally and completely wrong, and has been proven by millions of sellers to not work worth a darn. Nevertheless, this is what is taught in almost every sales course that mentions referrals. And not only is it a waste of time and effort, it deceives the seller who don’t succeed when using it into believing that the fault lies with him or her, not with a “system” that doesn’t work.

Generating a large number of high quality referrals requires far more than “doing a good job and asking for a referral.”

If you want to generate a large number of high quality referrals from your clients, you must understand what creates a quality referral.

A high quality referral is built on a foundation that has four solid pillars—and as the seller; you have control over three of them:

Your relationship with your client: Most clients don’t give referrals because they like you or even because you did a good job. Certainly there are a few clients that will give referrals at the drop of a hat, but most clients hate to give referrals and unless they have a deep trust that you will not embarrass them and that you’ll deal honestly and competently with the prospect they refer, they won’t be willing to give quality referrals.

Most clients believe that when they give a referral they’re not just suggesting that someone they know speak to the person they are referring, they believe that they are endorsing the seller, in essence telling the person they refer to the seller that they don’t need to do any research because the referrer has already done it and this person they’re referring is the best choice. To get clients to take this step doesn’t come without having built a strong bond of trust.

Few sellers ever exceed their client’s expectations because even though they think they know what the client’s expectations are, they never really try to find out, they never ask. You cannot afford to guess or “think” you know what your client’s expectations are–you must know exactly, and you can only do that by discussing them with your client and then making sure you meet or exceed them–nothing less will do.

If you don’t specifically ask your client what their expectations are, the best you can do is meet or exceed what you think your client’s expectations should be.

Clients assume that the purchasing experience anyone they refer you to will have a similar or WORSE experience than they had. The further away from their desired purchasing experience they have, the less likely they will be to give a quality referral.

The relationship between your client and the prospect: This is the one pillar you have no control over. Clients will refer you to people they have very strong, positive relationships with–and people they have very negative relationships with.

If the prospect trusts and respects your client, some of that trust and respect will be automatically imbued to you and you start your relationship with them from a position of strength. On the other hand, if the prospect distrusts or doesn’t respect your client, some of that distrust or disrespect will also be imbued to you and you will start your relationship with them from a position of weakness. Your job is to find out exactly what the relationship between client and prospect is and then plan you introduction approach to them accordingly.

Your initial contact with the prospect: To this point you’ve invested a great deal time and effort in establishing your relationship with your client, making sure they have exactly the purchasing experience they want, and finding out what the relationship is between your client and the prospect they are referring. After investing so much time and attention to get this far, the last thing you want is just a name and phone number.

Instead of getting a traditional “referral” consisting of the name and phone of the prospect and permission to use your client’s name, get a direct introduction from your client to the prospect.

There are three primary methods of getting a direct introduction:

Letter of introduction from your client to the prospect: Ask your client to write a letter introducing you to the prospect. However, once you’ve asked your client to write the letter, let them know that you know how busy they are. Offer to take the burden off of them by writing the letter for their signature. If you allow them to write the letter it won’t communicate a reason for the prospect to meet with you and it will be written on their schedule—which could be never.

The letter you write should give a brief overview of what you’ve done for your client and why the client believes it would be beneficial for the prospect to meet with you, as well as the time and date to expect a call from you. Have your client sign it. Phone the prospect at the exact time your client indicated you’d be calling.

Introductory phone call from your client to the prospect: An even stronger introduction is a phone call from your client to the prospect to introduce you. This method puts additional pressure on the prospect to agree to set an appointment with you as it is difficult for the prospect to say “no” to your meeting request when they know that their friend, co-worker, or associate is standing next to you when you ask.

The downside to a phone call is it gives the prospect the opportunity to ask questions of your client. If there were aspects to the sale that didn’t go well there is a good chance they will surface during the phone call.

Lunch meeting with your client, the prospect, and yourself: A tremendously strong introduction method. Have your client invite the prospect to lunch or coffee with the three of you. Encourage your client to let the prospect know this is NOT a sales meeting, just an opportunity for the two of you to meet one another.

One of the strange things that often happens during the meeting is the client ends up being your salesperson and you are there simply as the consultant. And, again, it is very difficult for the prospect to say “no” when you request a meeting.

As seen above, you have control of the majority of the pillars upon which a referral is based. If any of the above is weak, your likelihood of generating quality referrals will decline and the weakness must be made up elsewhere. In actuality, if one of the first two segments is weak, you will not be getting quality referrals–period. However, you can mitigate the third one by using a strong method of introduction.

Generating a large number of quality sales isn’t done by chance or luck, and neither is generating a large number of high quality referrals. Just as you need a well thought out process to consistently sell, you need a well thought out process to generate quality referrals. You can significantly increase the volume and the success of your referrals if you understand the dynamics that generate quality referrals and then control those dynamics.

Are you finding that you’re just not getting the number of quality referrals you want from your clients? Chances are you said yes because that’s the case with most sellers. Oh, sure, we all have some clients that will give us referrals all day long. Just ask and they’ll give you name after name. Other clients, the majority, aren’t nearly as generous with their referrals.

The biggest problem in both cases is so often the referral we get isn’t much better than pointing at a name in the phonebook at random.

How can you guarantee that you get great referrals? Simple. Make sure the client gives you a great referral by finding the referral for them to give you, rather than relying on them coming up with a quality referral to give.

The reality is that clients really don’t know who we’re looking for and most of them just don’t have a real incentive to invest the time and energy to come up with a great referral for us.

But we know who is a great referral for us. And certainly we’re willing to invest the time and energy to find a great referral (if we’re not, we have some real serious issues to deal with).

Since we’re the one with the need; and we’re the one with the desire; and we’re the one who knows who makes a good referral for us, why would we rely on anyone else other than our self to come up with the referral?

So how can we come up with the referral for our client to give us?

Here are three steps to guaranteeing you get great referrals from your clients:

1. Get Your Client On-board to Give Referrals. Most sellers wait until after the sale has been completed before they bring up the idea of referrals. Bad idea.

Most clients need time to get comfortable with the idea of giving referrals, so bring up referrals early in the relationship. Don’t ask for referrals; just let your client know that your business is built on referrals and then drop referral seeds as the sale progresses. Since your prospects and clients aren’t stupid, if they hear you mention referrals often in a casual manner, they’ll get the impression referrals are important to you and they will be expecting you to ask for them at some point.

2. Find Out Who Your Client Knows. We’ve already established that in order to get great referrals you have to do the work for your client, so do it by discovering during the course of the relationship who they know that you know you want to be referred to.

How do you find out? Through small-talk (who do they mention in conversation they know); paying attention to what’s in their environment (pictures, association directories, membership plaques, and such); their background (where did they work previously); their work (what vendors and suppliers do they interact with). Your job is to be a detective and to uncover the relationships they have with people or companies that you know you want to be referred to. The more you uncover the more quality referrals you uncover.

3. Don’t Ask for Referrals, Ask for THE Referral. Now when it comes time to ask for referrals, you’re not going to be like every other seller and ask a weak question such as, “Donna, do you happen to know anyone else (or another company) that might be able to use my products or services (or that I can help—or any other such weak question)?”

Instead you’re going to ask for a specific referral: “Donna, I’ve been trying to connect with David Jones for some time without success. You mentioned that you’ve worked with David for several years, would you be comfortable introducing me to him?” You know she knows David. You have reason to believe David is a good prospect for you. Don’t waste Donna’s time with that weak general referral question; ask to get connected to a person you know she knows that you know you want to connect with.

Referrals can be the foundation of your sales business if you just develop the skills necessary to be a referral-based salesperson. If Donna knows three people or companies you know you want to be referred to and you can get introductions to them from her, how much time and energy have you saved getting those three introductions through referrals instead of cold calling or sending out direct mail or hoping to bump into them at a networking event?

Forget what you’ve been taught about asking for referrals. Referral generation is a PROACTIVE process where you do the work, not your client. Your client doesn’t have the motivation, you do. They don’t have the understanding of who makes a good referral like you do. Your client doesn’t have the time to invest in figuring out a good referral like you do. It’s your business, not theirs. Make it easy to give quality referrals—you’ll get a ton of them if you do.

Free Webinar: 4 Quick Steps to Triple Your Client Referrals

Thursday, January 21 2PM Central Daylight Time

LIMITED SEATING so register early

Few sellers generate enough high quality referrals to seriously impact their sales and income because few have been taught how to work with their clients to generate high quality referrals.

Most sellers have been “taught” that all you need to do is ask a satisfied client for referrals and they’ll give them. Most find that asking doesn’t work. Sure, there are a few clients who willing give “referrals,” but most won’t. And even the “referrals” most sellers do get are nothing more than worthless names and phone numbers of people who have no interest in or need for their product or service.

Asking for referrals won’t get you where you want to go.

You must learn to work with your client to generate introductions to prospects who want and/or need your products and services.

That takes far more than asking some silly question such as “Ms. Client, do you know of anyone else that might be able to use my products or services?”

On January 21 we’ll focus on 4 easy to implement actions that will dramatically increase the number and quality of referrals you receive from each of your clients.

During this Hour You’ll Learn:

Why asking for referrals is a total waste of time

How to make your client comfortable and confident in giving high quality referrals

How to get your client to willing agree to give you multiple high quality referrals

How to get 3, 4, or more high quality referrals from your client—even if they say they have none to give you

How to nail down appoints with your referred prospects

The mega-producers don’t ask for referrals–but most have built their business on referrals. Learn why you need to forget everything you’ve been taught about referrals—and learn how to generate them the same way the mega-producers do.

Start 2010 off right by learning how to fill your pipeline with great prospects.

This is chapter three from my e-book: Recession Proof Your Pipeline: A Dozen Strategies to Fill Your Pipeline in 30 Days

Blast Your Pipeline with Dozens of Quality Referrals in 30 Days

Large numbers of high quality referrals are difficult for most salespeople to generate. Certainly, many will manage to get a name and phone number here and there. However, most of those names and phone numbers are little better than taking out the phonebook and pointing a finger at a name.

It need not be that way.

By learning a disciplined, effective, proven process for generating a large number of high quality referrals from each of your clients and even your prospects, referral selling can become a reality. It is for many of the top producers in every industry.

Yet of course, you can’t possibly learn and implement a systematic process of referral generation and expect to see significant results in only 30 days.

The good news, however, is that you can still generate a substantial flow of business in only 30 days if you learn to turbo charge your client’s ability to give you a large number of quality referrals in a very short period of time—virtually overnight.

Whom do You Want to Be Referred To?

If you expect to use referrals as an igniter of your pipeline in short order, you’ll have to do all of the work for your clients. Asking your database of clients for referrals will generate referrals if done correctly. However, the fruits of that request won’t be seen quickly.

You, of course, don’t have the luxury of waiting. You need business NOW.

Sit down right now and draw up a list of 100 individuals or companies YOU KNOW you want to be referred to. Be specific. List the name, the phone number and the address of each individual or the name, phone number, address, and the specific person within the company for each company you wish to be referred into.

You may have to do some serious research. Nevertheless, your list is the critical part of this strategy.

Don’t stop at 50, or 70, or 90. List a minimum of 100 individuals or companies. Remember, you’re going to make it easy for your client to refer you. Someone must do the work—and that’s you.

When making your list, leave room on the right side of the sheet beside each name to put the name of the person who is going to refer you to that person or company.

Who Is Going To Refer You to Whom?

Great. You know 100 individuals or companies you want to be referred to.

So, how are you going to get referred to them? By your clients, of course.

Now, take your database of clients and examine each one. Which client do you have reason to believe can refer you to the first person on your list? The second? The third?

The more you know about each of your clients, the easier this part of the task will be. Hopefully, you’ve come to know the majority of your clients well.

Beside each prospect, list the client–and their phone number–that you believe can refer you to that prospect.

If you have a list of 100 people or companies you know you want to be referred into, you’ll probably be able to identify 70 or so that you have reason to believe one of your clients may know and can refer you to.

If you have 70 prospects your clients may know, you’ll probably find they can actually refer you to about 47.

If you are referred to 47, you’ll probably set appoints with about 35

If you set appointments with 35, then multiply 35 by your average close ratio—that is what you can expect to close. If your close ratio is 40%, you should have in your hand 14 short-term sales

Get the Referrals

Now the question is: how do you turn your list into referrals?

Naturally, you are going to go back to each of the clients that you have identified as a potential referrer to someone on your list.

Start with the clients you have the strongest relationship with first. Better to get some positive reinforcement from your best relationship clients before you approach those you have a weaker relationship with.

However, before you approach anyone, you need to get comfortable with what you’re going to say. You don’t want to stumble and stammer. You want to come across to your client as comfortable, confident, and in control.

Referrals can be tricky. They are hard to generate if your client doesn’t believe you expect them and that you have earned them. If you doubt, that doubt will be picked up by your client, who will be less likely to agree to give them. After all, if you don’t believe what you’re saying, why should your client?

Get your act together before you make your call to your first client.

Don’t ask for referrals via a letter or email. You will be far more successful if you ask in person. Short of that, you must make a personal phone call. Generating referrals is a relationship action, not an impersonal request. You must deal with your client on a one-on-one, personal level.

When you call, before bringing up the referrals you seek, find out if your client has ANY needs, concerns, or requests regarding your product or service. In other words, make sure you still have a happy and fully satisfied client. If you don’t, you cannot expect referrals. If the client is dissatisfied for any reason, instead of referrals to get, you have customer service work to perform.

Then, once you know your client is still ‘on the team,’ explain that you have a favor to ask. You have two or three people you believe you can help but have not been successful in being able to meet through the normal course of business. These are people that you thought for whatever reason the client might know and are hoping that if they do know them, that they would be comfortable referring you to these prospects.

If you have done your research and matching of prospect to client well, your client will probably know one or two of the prospects you ask about.

Once they acknowledge they know them, find out how well. With a referral, you are hoping to build a relationship with the referred prospect based on their trust and respect for your client. If the prospect trusts and respects your client, some of that trust and respect is imbued to you—so you start your relationship with the prospect from a positive position.

However, the person you’re asking about may not trust and respect your client. If they are just casual acquaintances, their trust relationship is neutral, as will be your starting point. In addition, if the prospect distrusts and disrespects your client, your starting point will be from a negative position because some of the distrust for your client will also be imbued to you.

It is important that you know where you start–the stronger the relationship between client and prospect, the better your chances of getting an appointment and a sale.

If you have done your job for the client well, they should have no problems referring you into the prospects they know.

Work your way through your list of 100 prospects. You should have more than a month’s work ahead of you. Again, you will probably have about 70 prospects to contact and set appointments with.

Don’t Just Get Referred, Get Introduced

One of the biggest mistakes you can make with a referral is to simply get your client to agree to refer you. That’s what the average salesperson does—and it doesn’t work well.

Instead of just getting a verbal referral, that is having your client say, “Sure, I’ll refer you to them,” get a direct introduction to the prospect. Not only is a direct introduction more powerful than an agreement to use the client’s name, a direct introduction, if done correctly, almost guarantees a private meeting with the prospect.

Although there are a number of ways of getting a direct introduction, when under the time pressure of a 30-day explosion of production, you have 3 realistic options:

A Letter from Your Client Written by You for Your Client’s Signature. A letter of introduction will probably be your standard format for a direct introduction. Don’t ask your client to write the letter because they will not have the sense of urgency you need, nor will they write the letter you want written.
Instead, write the letter for your client, on your client’s stationary, in your client’s voice. Use a standard format: 1st paragraph informs the prospect of what you did for the client; the 2nd gives the prospect an idea of what you might be able to do for the them; the 3rd states an exact day and time the client has asked you to call the prospect; and the 4th has your client asking the prospect to call the client after your meeting with the prospect so the client can get the prospect’s opinion of you and your company ( the reason the client requests this is because the client respects the prospect’s judgment).
Have your client sign the letter and then mail it to the prospect. A day or two after the letter should have arrived, call the prospect. Assume the prospect has not read the letter. When you reach the prospect, immediately refer to your client and the letter, not to yourself. If you introduce yourself first, the prospect may determine you are nothing but another tele-marketer before you have the opportunity to mention your client’s name and they may mentally block you out. Don’t give them the chance. Gain their interest with your client’s name first.
Some salespeople think they can get around the letter by simply acting as if a letter has been sent. Bad move. Some prospects, after getting off the phone will look for the letter. If it isn’t there, only one of two things could have happened—the letter was lost in the mail or the salesperson lied. Guess which one they’ll assume?

A Phone Call to the Prospect From Your Client While You’re in the Client’s Office. This is, of course, a more powerful introduction than a letter. Don’t’ let your client call without you being present. You want a direct introduction and you want to know everything that is said during the conversation.
Although powerful, this format has some drawbacks. This method is powerful because it is unusual and because it allows the prospect to ask direct questions about you, your product and the client’s purchasing experience. This format can backfire if there are questions you’d rather the prospect not ask. If there are weak areas in your client’s purchase, this may not be your best choice.
However, this format almost guarantees a meeting with the prospect since it is difficult for the prospect to decline a meeting request when the client is also on the line.

A Lunch Meeting with Your Client, the Prospect and Yourself. This is, by far, the most powerful introduction format you can use in this circumstance. A lunch format allows you to get to know the prospect as a friend prior to getting to know them as a prospect or client. In addition, in this format, your client acts as your salesperson during the lunch, you’re there as the consultant. As with the phone call format, it is very difficult for the prospect to decline a meeting request in front of the client. Furthermore, since the meeting format is informal, you’ll have the opportunity to learn a great deal about the prospect and their business long before you begin discussing business. If you pay attention, you should have a great deal of ammunition before the subject of business comes up.

Execution

Developing referrals from your clients can take some time. You must develop your list of prospects you want to be referred to; you have to match those prospects to individual clients in your database; you must contact each individual client for the referrals; write the letters or arrange the calls or lunches; and then have the actual contact with the prospect. All of this before you even have the individual meeting with the prospect.

This method requires you to be disciplined, very well organized, and committed to working the process. You must have a sense of urgency or time will slip away and you won’t meet your 30-day goal.

Commit yourself to having your prospect list completed within 2 days. Keep in mind, developing this list may take some serious research. Then, once you have your prospect list, you should have matched prospects to clients by the end of day three. By the end of the fourth day, you should have contacted and received referrals from several clients.

As soon as you have referrals, start the introduction process. Don’t try to go through all 100 prospects prior to beginning getting introductions. You’ll run out of time. Again, this format calls for good organizational and coordination skills. You’ll have to be gathering referrals while working referrals.

More than likely, you’ll find that you’ve filled your pipeline and still have more referrals to pursue. Good job! Not only will you have jumpstarted your sales again, you’ll carry that momentum into the coming months as well.

Want more strategies to help fill your pipeline quickly? You’ll find 11 more strategies for using the phone, networking, creating marketing partnerships and more in Recession Proof Your Pipeline. Order it here